Aqeedah First, Oh Muslims, Aqeedah First!

The Messenger of Allah () informed Mu’ādh ibn Jabal ( – d. 17 AH), when he was going to the land of Yemen, “You are going to a people from the People of the Book. Let the first thing that you call them to be the worship of Allāh (). If they acknowledge Allāh (), then inform them that Allāh has obligated upon them five prayers during their days and nights.” [al Bukhārī, Muslim]

Abdullāh ibn ‘Umar ( – d. 84 AH)said, “We lived during an instant of time in which one of us would receive faith first before receiving the Qur’ān and when the surahs were revealed we would learn what they permitted and what they prohibited and what they forbade and what they ordered and what should be the stance towards them. But I have seen many men from whom one is given the Qur’ān before īmān and he reads it from the opening of the Book to its closing and he does not know what it orders and what it forbids and what should be his stance towards it. He is like someone who is just throwing out dates [i.e., he does not get any benefit from his recital].”

Imām Abu Hanīfa (d. 150 AH) pointed out, “Understanding in the religion first (i.e. tawhīd) and then understanding in the science (i.e. the sharī’ah)”

Imām ash Shāfi`ī (d. 204 AH) said, “That a servant meets Allāh () with every sin except Shirk is better say than meeting Him upon any of the innovated beliefs.”

Shaikh al Islām al Harawī al Ansārī (d. 481 AH) stated at the beginning of his book, Itiqād ahl as Sunnah, “The first obligation upon the slave is the knowledge of Allāh (). This is proven by the hadīth of Mu‘ādh (), when the Prophet () said to him, ‘You will come to a people from the People of the Book. The first thing that you should call them to is the worship of Allāh (). If they gain the knowledge of Allāh, then tell them that Allāh obligates upon them five prayers during the day and night…”

Chapter 4: Repayment1.Missing a day of fast in Ramadhan2.When does one make up a missed fast3.If missed fast are not made up until few dats before next Ramadhan4.Missed fasts first or voluntary?

Chapter 5: Recommended, Disliked, and Impermissible Days of Fasting1.Recommended Every Other Day Sawn Dawood2.The three white days of every Islamic month3.Six days of Shawwaal4.Month of Muharram and the 10th5.Ten days of Dhil Hijja and that of Arafat6.Disliking of the month of Rajab7.Disliking of the day of Friday8.Disliking of the 30th of Shabaan9.Impermissibility of fasting on the two Eids10.Completing of a voluntary fast is not Wajib